XPRESS 3200 or nForce 4

[lightsourcex]

This is the system I originally planned on buying but now I'm contemplating on the motherboard:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
DFI LanParty nF4 Ultra-D
SAPPHIRE X1800XT 512MB
2GB (1x2GB) G.SKILL DDR500 GBHZ
Western Digital 250GB
OCZ PowerStream 520W
Creative X-Fi XtremeMuisc
Lian Li PC-V600B

Now... I was thinking that since I'm getting ATi, should I just go ahead and go with the same chipset manuf. as well? I mean, I never liked ATi before their X1K series and I haven't heard much good things about their chipsets, but I do know that the XPRESS 3200 is supposed to be the best.of ATi's released chipsets.

I'm thinking of getting (as listed) the DFI Ultra-D or... One of the following boards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131004
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127234
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813154009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136009

 

[Roman79]

Hmm....not really sure why you're even considering a socket 939 motherboard at this point...especially since you're basically buying a complete system.

Is there a reason you're not looking at AM2?

 

[lightsourcex]

The reason I want a socket 939 is (mainly) because of memory.

If DDR2 memory, motherboards & Processors w/ 1MB L2 didn't cost soo much I would buy it.

s939 System

2GB G.SKILL (GBHZ) = $170
DFI Ultra-D = $120
3700+ = $200
Total = $490

sAM2 System

2GB G.SKILL (GBHZ) = $245
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe = $210
X2 3800+ = $300
Total = $755

It seems to me like the system I just put up is the only one that could really compete w/ 939 system for even NEAR the same price range. If they had a 3700+ model for the AM2 I'd go AM2 but the memory is still a lot.

 

[kirbyrj]

You don't have to spend $210 for an AM2 motherboard. The Asus M2N-SLI board is $145 or so (SLI 570 chip instead of SLI 590). Also, you can get an AM2 3800+ (non-X2) for around $150. I know it doesn't have 1mb of L2 cache, but you very likely won't miss it. And I'm not sure what you're looking at for memory, but you can do much better for 2GB of DDR2 memory. I got 2GB of G.Skill DDR667 stuff for $140. DDR800 is maybe $170 or so if you shop around.

Anyway, s939 is a bad move IMHO at this point. At least with AM2, you can swap in a K8L processor when they come out and be easily upgradeable to more memory rather than trying to find a good deal on DDR1 stuff (see also current prices of Rambus and SDRAM).

 

[lightsourcex]

You don't have to spend $210 for an AM2 motherboard. The Asus M2N-SLI board is $145 or so (SLI 570 chip instead of SLI 590). Also, you can get an AM2 3800+ (non-X2) for around $150. I know it doesn't have 1mb of L2 cache, but you very likely won't miss it. And I'm not sure what you're looking at for memory, but you can do much better for 2GB of DDR2 memory. I got 2GB of G.Skill DDR667 stuff for $140. DDR800 is maybe $170 or so if you shop around.

Anyway, s939 is a bad move IMHO at this point. At least with AM2, you can swap in a K8L processor when they come out and be easily upgradeable to more memory rather than trying to find a good deal on DDR1 stuff (see also current prices of Rambus and SDRAM).

The memory I'm looking @ is the G.SKILL GBHZ (Black Heatspreaders)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231065

I wanted to get that memory because its the same (basically) as the DDR1 version of itself, there's two DDR2 versions though. DDR2 800 and DDR2 1000.

So what is PC3200 on the DDR2 Side? PC6400?

 

[Rishi M.]

Anyway, s939 is a bad move IMHO at this point. At least with AM2, you can swap in a K8L processor when they come out and be easily upgradeable to more memory rather than trying to find a good deal on DDR1 stuff (see also current prices of Rambus and SDRAM).

I agree with you that S939 is not a good idea now because the upgrade path is practically nil, but everything I've read suggests that K8L will require a new socket when it arrives.

 

[lightsourcex]

I agree with you that S939 is not a good idea now because the upgrade path is practically nil, but everything I've read suggests that K8L will require a new socket when it arrives.

So what should I do...

Wait for Conroe or somthing? or... Just not get anything new, like get an AGP 7800GS or somthing?

 

[Nobi125]

Personally, I'd hold out till late July to see how the Conroe launch goes.